Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a knitting machine and a method for manufacturing a glove.
Description of the Related Art
As a knitting machine for manufacturing a glove, a weft knitting machine is widely used. In a weft knitting machine that is conventionally used, a large number of needle plates is provided upright on a needle bed to thereby form a large number of needle grooves, the needle grooves storing a knitting needle which reciprocates to knit a knit fabric.
Each knitting needle of the above described weft knitting machine is stored in the single needle groove and is provided with a hook on a tip end thereof. In addition, a butt is provided on an upper portion of each knitting needle in a protruding manner, the butt sliding along the cam groove to thereby allow the knitting needle to reciprocate. Furthermore, in the weft knitting machine of this sort, a needle selection mechanism is provided for selecting a knitting needle used for each knitting operation, the needle selection mechanism having a selector that lifts the knitting needle. In other words, among a large number of knitting needles, only knitting needles which are used for the knitting operation are elevated by the selector, allowing the butts of these knitting needles to slide along the cam grooves while preventing the butts of other knitting needles from sliding along the cam grooves, to thereby reciprocate only the knitting needles which are used for the knitting operation. And then, by engaging a knitting thread with the hook of the reciprocating knitting needle, a stitch loop is formed to thereby knit a knit fabric.
With regard to the knit fabric thus knitted, in order to make a thinner fabric and to give a superior texture, it is preferable to increase gauge and make stitches finer; however, in order to increase gauge, a knitting operation using a large number of knitting needles is required. In such a case of using a large number of knitting needles, the number of components of the needle selection mechanism increases accordingly, leading to an increased number of components of the needle selection mechanism and increased cost. Therefore, increase in gauge, especially up to 20 gauge or so, increases the cost per unit of the knitting machine and makes the knitting machine less cost effective. This makes it practically difficult to increase the gauge.
In view of the above problems, the present inventors have invented a knitting machine in which hooks in one needle groove operate integrally, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-12757. According to the knitting machine disclosed in the Publication, since a single jack can control a plurality of hooks, it is possible to knit a fine-stitched knitted product while effectively suppressing increase in number of components of the needle selection mechanism and the like.
However, in the knitting machine disclosed in the above-mentioned Publication, since the hooks in one needle groove operate integrally, it is difficult for the hooks to individually operate and, for example, inlaid knitting, in which a rubber thread passes through stitch loops, has been difficult. Therefore, in the knitting machine disclosed in the above-mentioned Publication, it has been difficult to knit an elastic portion of a glove, for example.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an objective of the present invention is to provide a knitting machine that is capable of knitting a fine stitched knitted product of high gauge while effectively preventing increase in the number of components in a needle selection mechanism, and performing a desired knitting method easily and reliably, as well as a method for manufacturing a glove using the knitting machine.